The present invention relates to an aircraft communication system, especially in an aircraft, comprising an aircraft terminal and a portable resource, and to an associated aircraft terminal and portable resource.
Airplane pilots wish to be able to use their portable computer, their data or applications not only in the airplane during the different phases of flight but also on the ground for their training or for updates of flight data just before the flight.
In an airplane, therefore, the crew, especially the pilot, is able to use applications installed on the on-board terminal (which traditionally is equipment in the cockpit) or on its portable computer. These can be connected to the resources of the airplane, especially to a screen and a keyboard in the cockpit, to a power supply and the airplane data-transmission bus via a universal connector or a specific hardware connector.
Nevertheless, this solution has a certain number of disadvantages. In fact, this connector must function for every type of resource to be connected to the airplane, especially the on-board terminal, the portable computer of the pilot and more particularly the airplane data-transmission bus. In addition, this solution may pose problems of data security.
In addition, this connector must be installed by all manufacturers of resources (especially the manufacturers of computers, portable computers).
Furthermore, this solution has the disadvantage that the connector must be standardized.
According to another approach, a receiving station (“docking station” in English terminology) capable of accommodating a portable computer is installed in the cockpit of the airplane. This docking station is a physical connector connected to input/output means that form an interface with the pilot, in the cockpit. In addition, the docking station is connected via a connection to replaceable functional units LRU (“Line Replaceable Units” in English terminology), this connection being in particular, for example, an ARINC 429 bus.
Nevertheless, according to this approach, it must be noted that the docking station is capable of receiving only a single portable computer model. In fact, a specific docking station is necessary for each brand of computer and sometimes for different types of computers.
According to an approach illustrated in FIG. 1, a generic docking station 10 is fixed in the cockpit of the airplane in order to overcome this disadvantage. Then, for each model of portable computer used by the pilots, there is manufactured an adapter 12 capable of receiving portable computer 11 and capable of being inserted into the docking station installed in the cockpit.
Nevertheless, this solution has the disadvantage that adapters must be developed for the different portable computers used by the pilots.